Every man has his place

Plan B

With 5 children, 2 adults and 7 pets there is always a lot going on in our house. One of my goals this year is to really harness the activity, what I need is a plan.

I like to plan things. I love spreadsheets and bullet journals and to do lists and checklists and you get the idea. However, I am the only one. Mrs Berg for example prefers a spontaneous approach, never getting tied down to one thing. She would rather do everything, all at once. This is whether it’s all the house work at once or visiting all our friends and family on the same day, like a grand tour.

Most people despair of me preparing a spreadsheet instead of just getting on with it. My mother constantly used to roll her eyes as I spend a day planning half a days work.

Whereas they have a point I feel it’s not the plans fault and more mine. The action should definitely be larger than the time it took to plan it. This is something I hadn’t yet mastered.

Still what we need more than ever is a plan. 2 jobs, a degree, placements, school runs, nursery runs, cubs, dance, ice hockey, dog walks, exercise, runs, yoga, blog posts, free time, meal time, study time, sleep time, no time. At this point in our lives it needs to be managed, because after all time is the most precious of commodities.

The best guide for planning that has worked for me over the past year and one technique I will carry forward into the new year comes from The Art of Manliness

A complete plan that encourages you to set goals, so you work to progress yourself as a person. The idea is that it is necessary to plan your day to day tasks but you need overall personal goals in order to feel fulfilled.

Recently I have gotten into Journaling. I find it helps me focus my writing and enables me to reflect on the things that are important to me. It is also a good way to plan your time. The first guy I watched who talked about journaling was Clark Danger.

This is a good video to start with. He has a whole channel full of good videos and ideas on how to journal and how journaling can lead to good planning, both week to week and life.

Finally, I have a soft spot for this bullet journalist. Her name is Boho Berry. Just her design skills and layout appealed to me. Start with this video but again if you like it she has many good videos.